Road race event in New Taipei City pushes antiviolence

Runners will get a chance to help promote antiviolence on Saturday, when the Garden of Hope Foundation is to hold a road running event to raise funds for women and children.

Despite its name, the first V-Men Charity Run is open to both genders, with 200m, 500m, 1,000m, and 3,000m races to take place in Sindian District (新店), New Taipei City (新北市).

Organizers will ask participants to donate NT$1 for each meter they complete and competitors can either run themselves or have someone run in their place, said the charity, which hopes to have 5,000 people taking part in the event.

The money will go toward helping people who have been abused rebuild their lives, said Song Chih-cheng, who is in charge of the charity’s educational promotion.

The run was inspired by Canada’s White Ribbon Campaign to promote an end to violence against women. That campaign was in turn a response to the mass shooting in 1989 at the University of Montreal in Canada in which 14 women were killed by a man who claimed to be an antifeminist.

“It’s not enough to raise antiviolence awareness among women. We need men to participate too,” Song said.

As part of the event, the charity is also recruiting male volunteers to wear high heels in a 100m walking race to give competitors what it says will be a better understanding of what it is like to be a woman.

“The activity mirrors the ‘Walk a Mile in her Shoes’ campaign in Canada. Having men wear high heels symbolizes that they are willing to consider things from the female perspective,” Song said.

People are encouraged to wear white T-shirts and purple ribbons at the event as a sign of their solidarity and support for the antiviolence initiative, the charity said.